John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I want to recognise the public service of a very private man, Harry Evans. Harry was the longest serving Clerk of the Australian Senate ever, but it is the quality, not the quantum, of his service I want to acknowledge this evening.

Harry was a country boy, born in 1946 to dairy farmers who owned land near Lithgow in the foothills of the Blue Mountains in New South Wales. After high school, Harry enrolled in an arts degree at the University of Sydney, where he developed an interest in the history of our democracy.

Harry graduated with honours from Sydney university, and in 1967 moved to Canberra to begin work in the Parliamentary Library. His career as a Senate officer began when he was asked to assist in the compilation of a new edition, the fourth, of Australian Senate Practice by the Senate's then Clerk, Jim Odgers. Odgers' Australian Senate Practice remains the definitive guide for staff and senators trying to navigate the intricacies of Senate procedure and practice. Harry Evans oversaw six further editions of the work, and, in a reflection of our times, introduced an online version.

Harry's intimate knowledge of Senate procedures led to work in this chamber, first as Assistant Clerk, later as Deputy Clerk and finally, of course, as Clerk of the Senate. He would remain as Senate Clerk for 21 years.

During this time, new voices and new parties entered the chamber. To assist them, Harry set up the forerunner of the Procedure Office as a means of providing non-government senators advice on chamber procedures and draft legislation.

Over many, many years, Harry Evans observed the ebb and flow of this country's political life. His was literally a front-row, albeit not front-bench seat, at the table, to the right of the President on the floor of the Senate. All the while, Harry found time to write about the purposes and practices of our great democracy.

His contributions covered issues as diverse as the constitutional basis of an Australian republic, the role and reform of parliamentary privilege and the tension between past practice and present necessity in parliamentary procedures.

He was instrumental in redrafting Senate procedures for this parliament's new home. This work resulted in halving the more than 400 standing orders used when the Senate sat in Old Parliament House. Harry's clear and simple revisions remain a testament to his clarity of thought; their efficacy illustrated by the fact that they remain in place some 20 years later.

But through his professional life, Harry Evans emphasised the importance of the Senate as a check on executive power. Clearly and consistently, he reminded us that the Constitution alone determines the powers of the parliament, the House and the Senate. This was a constant theme, of advice and in practice.

Harry Evans entered the Public Service a historian and left as one. For more than 20 years there was no closer observer of the workings of the Senate and the contributions of senators. Reflecting on his time in this place he wrote:

With that perspective, it is possible to identify long-term trends which have an appearance of inevitably about them. It is also impressive, however, how many significant events were determined by pure chance, particularly the presence at crucial times of somewhat peculiar individuals.

He is right, of course. In many respects, life in the Senate is no different to other fields of human endeavour—fate and circumstance play their part. The workings of this parliament are often of course a product of how peculiar individuals respond to extraordinary events. But Harry also reminds us that this chamber reflects the will of the people. To quote him:

… the performance of the Senate, and any house of parliament, is ultimately in the hands of the electors. [And in this] There may well be room for improvement in the civic-mindedness and attention to public affairs.

Harry's civic mindedness and attention to public affairs was never in question.

Laura Tingle, writing in The Financial Review,reminds us that Harry Evans treated all those who sought his advice—the brilliant and belligerent, the sharp of intellect and self-important, the strugglers and the time-servers —with the same 'patience, good humour and intelligence'.

In 1989, when I entered the Senate as a newly minted senator for New South Wales, Harry Evans was already an institution. As Manager of Government Business in the last term of the Keating government, and then as Leader of the Opposition in the Senate for more years than I care to remember, I sought his advice and counsel on countless occasions. There were times I did not follow his advice or agree with it. I learnt on those comparatively rare occasions that Harry was a master of non-verbal communication. Of course he said nothing, but he looked at you and he just seemed to exude exasperation and disapproval. I suspect, though, he just accepted that politics was like that.

Of course, Harry Evans's loss is felt deeply by the staff of the Department of the Senate. Informing senators of Harry's death, his successor as Clerk, Dr Rosemary Laing, said it all:

Harry's contribution to the Senate as its Clerk will never be equalled and those of you who knew him will remember his fierce defences of the Senate as an institution, the rights of individual senators and of the value of parliamentary democracy. He was an inspiration to those of us who had the privilege of working for him and learning from his example. Professionally, he was the finest man I ever knew

I, too, admired Harry Evans—his fierce independence, his fearlessness, his professionalism and his integrity.

Harry Evans passed away earlier this month. He was 68. My condolences go to Harry's family, his friends and all those he mentored in this place.